


The Ring

by peacenik0



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Cancer Arc, Episode: s04e13 Never Again, F/M, First Time, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Piercings, Tattoos, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-05-07
Packaged: 2020-02-27 16:42:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18742969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peacenik0/pseuds/peacenik0
Summary: Dana Scully makes a choice.Prompts:1. I feel like I will die if I can't touch you at least once in this miserable life2. Mulder finds out about Scully’s navel ring while they are still only friends





	The Ring

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ObserveroftheUniverse (observeroftheuniverse)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/observeroftheuniverse/gifts).



> I feel like I went out on a limb with this one, so any feedback would be appreciated 🙏

The night she gets her tattoo is the first time she sees it. There amongst the swirling blue black designs, the tiny jagged roses and sharp lined pin-up girls. A picture of a young woman with a gold navel ring. Scully scoffs. The very idea seems ridiculous, too sexual, maybe. For one reason or another, she thinks about Mulder. How he would never expect her to do something like get a tattoo, let alone a navel ring. She pictures the exact look on his face. The very way his jaw would drop. It thrills her. But no, Dana Scully would never alter her body for a man. Not even to spite one. She thinks about that golden circle as the shrieking buzz of the tattoo gun first pierces her skin. The blue black pleasure, the searing pain.

__Not everything is about you, Mulder,_ _

Whatever they have, it isn’t love. It’s codependency.

2\. Cancer invades her brain; wreaking havoc on the one thing that set her apart. The very thing that made her who she was; her mind. Dana Scully always wanted to be known for her intellect, not her body. She wore boxy suits, and large shoulder pads to cover over her feminine form. It worked. Mulder didn’t see her as sexual at all. She could just as easily be a fifty-five year old man with a pot belly, and no hair. Mulder wouldn’t even notice. Why does she even want him to notice?

Not only had her brain betrayed her, but now her body too. She didn’t even feel like a woman anymore. The cancer ravages her body. For the first time she feels small; hollow even. A husk of the vibrant woman she knew herself to be. Brittle as her fingernails. Standing in front of her bathroom mirror naked, her breasts look nearly sunken in. Her skin sallow from the chemotherapy. She traces her ribs down, down landing just above her belly button. Between her fingers she tries to pinch the skin there, but there is no skin to pinch. She cries. Cries For the things she will never have. The things she never knew she wanted.

3\. Agent Scully doesn’t believe in miracles. At least not in the way that Mulder did. Dana Scully (the woman) struggles to reconcile her faith and her belief in science. The two feel contradictory. The part of her that wants so desperately to live needs to believe in miracles. That God could reach down and heal her. She prays. Then she curses herself for praying. How could a benevolent God give her this disease? Hasn’t she always done the right thing? Fought for justice, helped the many victims they came across? For the first time, she thinks that maybe Mulder is right about God.

Mulder runs around, looking for answers in the dark. He puts on a brave face for her, but she could see it in his eyes. The fear. That night in her dream, he comes to her. Broken. Maybe it is some kind of love, but it doesn't matter now. It doesn’t matter, because she is going to die. The world is upside down. She worries what he will do when she’s gone, how he will cope with the loss. She’s fucking dying and all she can think about is Mulder. The way she sees herself in his eyes.

4\. The cancer is gone. Dana Scully has a new lease on life. She passes by a tattoo and piercing parlor as she walks to the liquor store in downtown Georgetown. The sun is shining. A young couple soaked in love and hormones, engage in some heavy petting at the bus stop. The golden ring appears in her mind once again. She buys the pricey Merlot she tells herself she deserves. She deserves.

In the mirror at home, she looks once again at her body. The muscle and fat slowly returning. The fullness of her breasts. Scully thinks about all the things she isn’t supposed to want. All the choices she has made, and the ones she didn’t. She thinks of the men who gave her cancer, who experimented on her body without her consent. It makes her angry. Dana Scully longs for a way to regain control over her own body. She longs to feel like a woman again. And just like that, her decision is clear.

The hollow needle is sterilized by two white latex gloves. The smell of alcohol burns her nose. When the tattooed man pinches the top of her creamy navel, she sucks in a sharp breath.

“Getting this for your boyfriend?” He asks, his breath whistling over a silver stud in his tongue. Scully takes a moment to think about the question. Stab. Bright blue pain breaks just behind her eyes. A golden circle, like eternity. Her skin stings as a bit of red blood is wiped away. She feels alive.

“No,” she says, looking the tattooed man straight in the eye. “I’m getting it for me.”

5\. Mulder isn't supposed to see it; the navel ring hidden under her black tailored suits. It's a secret. He shouldn't have known about the tattoo either, but some things spun out of her control. Things she’d rather forget. They are in her apartment. Mulder is engrossed in their case as usual, but when he looks up at her, she catches a small smile. 

“Let’s have some wine.” She says surprising even herself. Standing on tip toes she reaches high for the bottle of merlot she bought but never drank. If only she were a little taller. 

“Here, let me help you.” He says getting up from his place at her oak table.

"No, I’ve got it," she says, her arms stretching high. Her blue sweater lifts up, revealing her secret. His eyes cast down, down, swirling around that golden ring. Mulder’s mouth drops open. For a split second, something that looks like desire in his eyes. But no, it can't be. She shivers. Quick. Quick. His eyes dart away.

Later they sit on her couch going over the tox screens. Mulder fidgets. His eyes dart to her belly, then away. The cycle repeats.

“You’re driving me crazy,” she says over the rim of her glass. A small grin plays on her lips.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says biting his plump bottom lip.

“Yeah right,” She said, finding his eyes. “After all these years, I can read you like a book.” Her tone is light. 

He shakes his head. Clamps his mouth down. 

“Come on, out with it.” She said pushing his shoulder. He swallows.

“When did you get it?” his question is soft, but underneath his words there is so much more. Her eyebrows go up. “The ring.” 

“Oh, uh… about six months ago. After...” She looks down, fingers the stem of her glass. When she looks back at him, she sees the questions swirling in his mind. Questions he doesn’t ask. 

“Oh,” he bites his lip again. “I might be pretty easy to read, Scully. But you never fail to keep me on my toes.”

6\. “I feel like I will die if I can't touch you at least once in this miserable life,” Mulder says, his eyes shining into hers. Her heart stops, and then starts again for what feels like the first time.

She wishes she could capture the look on Mulder’s face the moment she steps both of her feet onto his sneakers. His hands hover close to her waist, but they never land. Up, up. She reaches tall, pressing one moist kiss to his mouth, and then another. The world around them a perfect blur of love. Love.

“Then touch me,” she says. A tentative hand sweeps under her shirt, fingers dancing closer and closer to her navel. Making her body sing from the inside out. His thumb traces around the golden circle,like it’s a rare jewel; precious and forbidden.

“Scully, Scully, Scully,” he breathes against her mouth. A mantra, a wish finally granted.

In the glint of his eyes, she sees her hair set aflame by the morning sun streaming through the windows.

"Look at you,” he says in awe, his eyes devouring her body. "You're so… beautiful." It’s as though he has been storing this words up for so long, waiting for just the right time.

"C’mere." she chuckles, blushing. A kiss to her eyelid. Her collarbone. His tongue teasing her nipple. Tracing down, down. Her body tenses in anticipation. Scully watches as Mulder carefully draws and unending circle around her navel.

She feels alive

"You drove me crazy,” he says as his tongue finally darts out to touch that golden ring for the first time. “All this time, knowing this was there, under your shirt.”

“I kinda like driving you crazy,” she whispers, wanton. 

“I know,” he says, capturing that golden ring between his lips and flicking it lovingly with his tongue.“And I love it.”

“Did you think of me, when you got this?” he asks, sucking the golden circle into his mouth.

“I can’t pretend that you didn’t cross my mind, but no I didn’t get it for you,” she says, watching the way the ring glints on his tongue. “You do know that not everything is about you, right?” She asks pulling him up her body, until their noses touch. “Some things are about me.”

“No, everything is about you, Scully, everything.”

The End.


End file.
